Rockets report: Beverley makes early return from injury

Pat Beverley had been considered doubtful to play, and that was in Thursday’s game. That was only to be a week after he was ruled out for a week to 10 days with a torn abdominal muscle, but the Rockets did not want to completely close the door.

On Tuesday, he shoved that door wide open, going through a strenuous three—on-three session and insisting he was ready until the Rockets agreed.

“I felt like I was going through withdrawls,” Beverley said. “I’m happy to be back. I wanted to play the next day after the injury. It’s not because we lost (on Monday) or anything like that. I’m a competitor. It doesn’t feel right … not being able to go out there and help my teammates any way I can.”

Before Tuesday’s session, Beverley had only been shooting and doing conditioning in which he went straight ahead and straight back. The Rockets avoided any quick twists and turns. Beverley, however insisted from the start that he could play and used Tuesday’s halfcourt game with Donatas Motiejunas, Greg Smith, Terrence Jones, Ronnie Brewer and development coach Derrick Alston to prove it.

“It was good,” Beverley said of his final test. “I didn’t know where the screen was coming from so I was able to react OK. The biggest focus for me was being able to move the way I want defensively and that didn’t seem like a problem. I didn’t feel like that was a problem.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale started Jeremy Lin at point guard and planned to try to limit Beverley’s playing time, but that the Rockets did miss Beverley’s defensive pressure, even if he would not be expected to stop Chris Paul or Damian Lillard.

“He’s just a defensive presence,” McHale said. “The point of attack is huge. Most teams start with their point guard. You’re not going to turn those guys into bench-warmers. He can make it harder on them.”

Rockets ready to bounce back

The Rockets might not have wanted a blowout loss to the Clippers, but it did offer the first test of their ability to bounce back. That might be mitigated by the schedule, with the Rockets playing a fourth game in five nights.

“When things go badly, that’s a huge thing, because in our league, there is going to be adversity,” McHale said. “There always is. There’s rough waters on every team. I was on a team that won 67 games and a championship and we had a three-week period where we were bad. We were like, ‘Why are we so bad.’

“It’s what you do during those times that really show you who you are. You have to dig down, play harder, play tougher. It will be interesting to see how we bounce back. That’s always a big sign of what kind of team you are.”